Britain and India to agree cyber crime joint taskforce

MUMBAI

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (L) shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of a bilateral meeting before the start of the G20 Summit of major world economies in Cannes November 3, 2011.

Reuters/Toby Melville

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Britain and India are expected to agree to set up a joint task force to fight cyber crime on Tuesday, a move London hopes will help it safeguard the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much of which is stored on Indian servers.

The agreement is expected to be sealed at a meeting between Prime Minister David Cameron and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi, one of the highlights of Cameron's three-day trade and investment trip to India.

"The two leaders are expected to agree a substantial strengthening of practical co-operation between British and Indian authorities to increase the security of British and Indian computer networks and to help defend them against cyber attacks by terrorists, criminals and hostile states," Cameron's office said in a statement.

It said India was set to have one of the biggest online populations by 2015 with an expected 300 million users - larger than the United States and up from the 137 million users already in India today.